Week 3 Thoughts

Some thoughts following Georgetown's 44-9 loss to Harvard Saturday:

1. Unpopular Opinion, But...Why are we playing Harvard?

Maybe the question is not exactly why, but why still. Yes, I'm familiar with the obvious answers (Ivy League school, prestige, it's in the fight song, etc.), but why still?

In five games, this has not been a fair fight. Harvard has outscored Georgetown 195 to 31, and the game is even more pronounced in halftime when the Crimson go into cruise control: in five first halves, the difference is 136-21.

These mismatches (including the last two by a combined 85-11) are not so much a reflection of Georgetown as it is that Harvard recruits at a much higher level of talent and the results are on the field. In 2021 there are six former Harvard players in the NFL--the other seven Ivy schools combined for just seven. That extra spring in the step of a Aidan Borguet or Aaron Shampklin is part of a Harvard recruiting system that if doesn't put the other Ivies to shame, at least it gives them pause. It's the only Ivy program that can make a credible offer that four years for the Crimson could offer pro opportunities in addition to its education. It's also the Ivy that can offer a recruit practically a free ride to nearly every recruit.

Yes, Harvard traditionally starts off its season strong. The Crimson are an astounding 120-45-2 in season openers. But a slower, less offensively minded Georgetown team is tailor-made for Harvard to get up early and run away. A 13-9 score midway in the first quarter was hopeful, but as soon as Harvard scored on its next two possession, the die was cast.

Yes, playing Harvard in week 3 is more appropriate than, say, a 69-0 win over Catholic. But 2021 Georgetown isn't competitive with the style of play Harvard offers, any more than 2021 Georgetown could stay within range of an Army team that would run the triple option for 45 minutes a game. It's just not a game Georgetown is competitively suited for, and that speaks to the regular disparity in the scores.  The Hoyas are no closer to staying with the Crimson as they were in 2014, when they lost 34-3 at the former Multi Sport Field.

Yes, Georgetown will still return Tim Murphy's phone calls because it's Harvard. For Tim Murphy, it is a nice recruiting trip and a safe win. Emphasis on both.

2. Points Matter: Georgetown's offense was curtailed yet again Saturday, especially on the ground. But despite some stellar defensive ply, nine points doesn't win many football games. And with the possible exception of Bucknell, no other PL team scores as few points as Georgetown.

It leads to what I call the Rule of 15: Since 2012, Georgetown has averaged just 15.4 points per game. In games where it allows fewer than 15 points, Georgetown is 23-4.

In games where it allows more than 15 points, Georgetown is 6-56.

Two touchdowns a game is just not enough in the current era of college football. Through two games, Georgetown is averaging 14.5 points a game, 102nd of 122 schools. A smaller offensive line, smaller running backs, and a lack of time for the quarterback are all contributory factors but it puts a lot of pressure on the defense.  The offensive staff has to find a way to be more aggressive down the field to get points earlier in a game. Interceptions aren't good, but neither is ranking 117th nationally in red zone penetrations, which just five on the season to date.

3. Around the Patriot League: What a mess.

Holy Cross (2-1) and Georgetown (1-1) have combined for three non-conference wins this season. The other five teams are a combined 0-15.

Fordham, with admittedly tough competition in Nebraska and Florida Atlantic, is 0-3, outscored 123-44. But they're the best of a really poor bunch. Lafayette has been outscored outscored 78-30. Colgate, once a regular championship contender, has been outscored 102-10. Bucknell, never an offensive juggernaut, checks in at 106-9. The most surprising is Lehigh, outscored 110-6.

Veteran Patriot League sports columnist Chuck Burton discussed this last week. "It is not so much that what Villanova, Richmond or Princeton are doing is unfair," he wrote.  "They are abiding by NCAA rules and conference rules, which allow them to do these things.  But it demonstrates how Patriot League schools, by sitting pat, have put their student-athletes way behind the eight ball."

"In 2015, the entire FCS landscape was different," he continued.  "The Ivy League was largely adhering to self-imposed rules on recruiting and roster sizes - those changed.  The CAA was adhering to redshirt rules that had the practical effect of limiting the number of extra-year players - that changed.  And while those leagues were expanding their rosters and opportunities, the Patriot League was doing the opposite - they were migrating towards restricting rosters and limiting extra-year players.  And I firmly believe that explains the sudden, precipitous drop in competitiveness in the league across the board in the last five years... This isn't 2015 anymore.  The game has evolved and moved on, and it's high time the Patriot League did the same."

4. Cooper Field Review: I wasn't able to attend the Cooper Field opener but will have some thoughts in two weeks. If you did, drop a note on the HoyaTalk board with your thoughts.

Week 2 Thoughts

Some thoughts following Georgetown's 20-14 win over Delaware State this past Saturday.

1. The More Things Change... As games go between a 658 day absence, Saturday's game was fun, if, at a macro level, somewhat predictable (more on that below).  Given the absence of playing Marist probably cost Georgetown some familiarity in the first 20 minutes of this game, once the momentum picked up, the Hoyas were ready to take over.

College basketball coach Al McGuire once noted that the most important eight minutes of basketball are the last four minutes of the first half and the first for of the second, and it applied in this game as well. Getting that touchdown to close the first half may have been the play of the game, because I'm not sure where GU would be down 14-0 to enter the second half.

Years ago I did a study of Georgetown's record in the I-AA era when trailing by 10 or  more points a the half. The numbers were, well, prohibitive. In that sense, getting to 14-7 was just what a young team needed and the first four minutes allowed Georgetown to lock down the Hornets defensively and set up the tying touchdown drive in the next series.

Not every game is that cut and dried in those eight minutes, of course, but giving up a late touchdown is never, ever good for a team carrying a lead into halftime., or even one trying to build from it. Delaware State took in a pick -six to end the first half 26-3, the difference of the game as Bowie State scored 21 in the second half to close to 32-24.

But if blocking a field goal in overtime is a novel way to capture an opening win, the larger view confirms what has been a long standing pattern of Georgetown football, namely:

1. The defense always steps up.

2. The linebackers and secondary are Top 30 in the subdivision.

3. The offensive line cannot dominate the line of scrimmage.

4. The rushing game struggles.

5. If they can get the ball, the receivers can produce.

Some of this is the price of non-scholarship football, of course.  Coordinators come and go and GU has never been a particularly good rushing team in the PL era. In the last 25 years, just two Georgetown backs have rushed for more than 70 yards a game in a season. And with one back sets, it's even more noticeable.

The Hoyas rushed 32 times for 48 yards versus Delaware State,  109th of 114 schools for yardage and 112th in yards per carry.  The defense ranks 22nd overall in total defense allowed. Again, no surprise. But unless the defense can continue to block kicks and pick off two or  three passes a game, a tepid offense is a point of concern as the schedule steps up. Harvard may be shaking off its own rust this coming week but their athletes tend to be bigger, faster, and more agile on offense than Georgetown is comfortable with. The Hoyas have scored just 22 points in four games versus Harvard since 2014, and 17 of those came in one game. For better or worse, the run game is an area of opportunity.

2. Changing Channels. Saturday's game was Georgetown's first under the PL's new contract with ESPN+. So how did it go?

From a production point of view, a solid game. Del State's game are managed through a partnership with Heritage Sports Radio Network, which provides coverage of historically black colleges and universities--viewers heard the HSRN audio with the ESPN+ video, which was fine, even if the DSU analyst had some peculiar phrasing, using the formal name of the school frequently in the broadcast, e.g., "That was a fine tackle by Delaware State University linebacker Kamari Jackson." Overall, a good product, even if I shuddered when the pregame show asked, "So, what's a Hoya anyway? Is it a shrub?"

Really? It's not 1984 anymore.

The previous broadcasts under Stadium featured Jeremy Huber were very well done. But ESPN+ is just video, so announcers are important. Last week's broadcast of Monmouth at Fordham had no announcers and no "time and distance" graphics, leaving viewers to rely on the public address announcer and some slight murmurs from the press box along the line of "Hey, did he catch that?"

Depending on the agreement, ESPN+ can be a net gain to a conference or just a means to offload production on someone else. Either way, it's a net gain to expand visibility of PL games, even if the recent product has been, well, bad.

3. Whither The Patriot League: Some rough times for the PL over the first two weeks.  Georgetown's win was one of only two PL non-conference wins this season in 13 games. Fans of Bucknell, Colgate, Fordham, Lehigh, and Lafayette are a combined 0-10 so far this season.

Why is this?

There has been a trend of diminishing returns for PL teams since 2016 in the non-conference, some of which is a reflection of better competition. Georgetown notwithstanding, each of the other six PL teams are or will be adding major college (I-A, FBS) opponents. So far this season, PL teams have played the likes of Air Force, Boston College, Connecticut, and Nebraska, with Florida Atlantic and Army in future weeks.  With this in mind, it's not unexpected that PL teams would be taking on losses, but what has been more surprising is that teams have not performed to expectations against  comparable opponents, such as a third year FCS team Merrimack beating Holy Cross or Monmouth defeating Fordham.

The "why's" aren't altogether apparent given the 60-scholarship status of the other six teams, but the next three weeks will see these teams face more Ivy League competition and not Big Ten teams. In recent years, the former expectation that a 60-scholarship PL team would dominate a non-scholarship Ivy team is long since gone. But will they be  competitive?  

I've made this point before. As long as the Patriot League maintains the Academic Index (and what've I've argued as an artificial restraint to recruiting), the overall talent level of the PL is not appreciably different than when it was as a non-scholarship conference. This is why the schools of the Northeast Conference, once not much different that the MAAC Football League, has moved past the Patriot League in nearly every case.

That's why the Merrimack-Holy Cross was striking. Merrimack is a former D-II nonscholarship school which moved to FCS to 2019 and will offer 40 scholarships in the NEC. The Warriors didn't sneak past Holy Cross, they beat them, and the contrast between a HC team that won convincingly at Connecticut in Week 1 and lost at home is apparent.

The Week 3 games are below. Will there be some signs of improvement? There may not be any single Patriot League team favored heading into the games, and that's discouraging.

Princeton (0-0) at Lehigh (0-2), 12 pm

Holy Cross (1-1) at Yale (0-0), 12 pm

Harvard (0-0) at Georgetown (1-0), 12:30 pm

New Hampshire (2-0) at Lafayette (0-2), 12:30 pm

William & Mary (1-1) at Colgate (0-2), 1 pm

Fordham (0-2) at Florida Atlantic (1-1), 6 pm

Pennsylvania (0-0) at Bucknell (0-2), 6 pm

Next week, we'll take a closer look at these games and see what Georgetown can learn from these matchups.

Week 1 Thoughts

 

Some thoughts following week 1 of the 2021 college football season. So let's start with the obvious question.

1. What Happened? Many years ago, I worked at a firm whose director turned to me and remarked, matter of factly, the following about the company. "Communication," he said, "is a one way street."

Georgetown's August 31 press release  cancelling the season opener versus Marist checks a lot of boxes down that street.

The release was sent at 6:00 pm, after the close of business. It lists no media contact for follow-up questions. It has no quote from the head coach. But most frustrating, as a fan, supporter, and someone who has spent too much time on this to analyze, is that it never fully answers the question. Why did you wait to cancel a game three days before the opener?

Like many things at GU, I have no doubt that this decision was made for the right reasons. If players were sufficiently incapable or at risk of playing a game to the detriment of their health, not playing is entirely reasonable and appropriate. They certainly weren't trying to "dodge" an opponent. But why can't the circumstances have been clarified? The words "positive test" are never cited. What is presented is "a COVID-related pause during training camp which affected preseason preparations and conditioning."

 "It did catch me off guard because we’ve had no COVID issues here," Marist coach Jim Parady told the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record. “It was a surprise and not on my radar at all."

 According to public data on the District of Columbia web site, there were four COVID outbreaks within DC universities (which we can define as American, Catholic, George Washington, Georgetown, Gallaudet, Howard or UDC) on the week of August 6. An outbreak is defined by the District as " as two or more cases of COVID-19 reported at a location which have a plausible epidemiological link." During that week, Georgetown reported zero positive tests among residents on the  Main Campus, per its published numbers.

A week later, the DC public data reported one outbreak reported at a "sports facility". Georgetown reported 13 positive cases that week, but was not specific to a sports facility nor who they were. In its most recent release, Georgetown's overall positivity rate is just 0.55% among over 10,000 tests a week. In advertising lore, 99.44% was once considered the gold standard to sell Ivory Soap, but that's not 2021.

COVID data is anonymized so as not to be diffuse. We also heard of no issues in other GU sports practicing on or near Cooper Field during this time, and none have been postponed or cancelled. I'm neither prepared nor presume to know enough about epidemiology to assume anything, but to bring it back to this question: why was this communicated with such opacity?

Maybe that's all they had. Maybe the narrative got sent "up the hill", so to speak, where sensitive press releases land in the deep bureaucracy of Georgetown PR and legal scrutiny. Or, as much as anything, they didn't have to say anything more to get the message out, and didn't.  

As such, it came and went with little fanfare. The Washington Post, The HOYA, and Georgetown Voice did not even report it. The only media to cover it were two newspapers in and around the Poughkeepsie, NY area, where Marist football gets more coverage than does Georgetown in Washington, DC. So, like a lot of things at GU, it's been forgotten. 

Despite a positivity rate of  9.6% nationally among among over 1.4 million tests last week, the Georgetown-Marist game was was one of only two games featuring two NCAA Division I teams to be cancelled nationwide.

2. Your (New) Home Opener: Even before the cancellation, there was next to no promotion of the Marist game as a home opener to the fan base outside friends and family, which remains a sore spot with me given the numerous missed opportunities to build a better rapport between football and a student body that, well, half of whom have never seen a college game because they've just arrived on the campus.

OK, the home opener shifts to Harvard on  Sep. 18. Will there be any effort to promote the game? Will tailgates fall afoul of "an abundance of caution"?  Will Cooper Field, a subject all its own, hold enough people (or too many) given Harvard's healthy turnouts in prior years?

No sporting event at GU thus far has drawn over 655 fans, with low turnouts for games in men's and women's soccer and volleyball. Field hockey and football won't see a home opener until the weekend of Sep. 17-18. Is 3,000 at the Harvard game a goal, or a concern?

3. Around The League: The PL was 1-5 in opening round non-conference games. That's an improvement over a winless 0-7 in Week 1 of 2019, the most recent season with non-conference play. Stronger competition notwithstanding, it does not recast the narrative that these continue to be lean times for the league.

First, the good news for the PL. Holy Cross earned its first win over a major college opponent since 2002, 38-28, at Connecticut. A day later, UConn head coach Randy Edsall (he of a recent two year contract extension) suddenly announced his retirement, effective at the end of the season. Edsall took note to say it was his decision. (In college coaching changes, very, very little is the head coach's decision.) A decade ago, Edsall took the Huskies to the Fiesta Bowl. In his last 26 games at Storrs, he is 3-23.

A loss to Purdue or Central Florida probably wasn't sending Edsall to an early retirement. A loss to a Patriot League team did, however.

"I don’t think there was one person in that locker room that didn’t think we had a really good chance to win this game,” Holy Cross linebacker Liam Anderson told the Worcester Telegram-Gazette, one of the dwindling few newspapers covering PL football.  The Huskies were flat in their opener with Fresno State and it continued Saturday, UConn managed 88 yards on the ground and gave up a four play, 98 yard drive that put away the game for the Crusaders midway through the fourth quarter after neither team led by more than seven for the first 50 minutes of play. Each of UConn's final two drives of the game  ended in interceptions.

HC is the runaway favorite to en route to a third consecutive PL title. The only apparent roadblock, Fordham, exceeded expectations  in a 52-7 loss at Nebraska. For one thing,  the Cornhuskers was a 55 point favorite, but this was a 7-7 game early and the Rams had 221 yards by halftime, trailing 24-7. Nebraska put on the heat in the second half for a Big Red crowd that was not in the mood for anything less.

"I think our kids did a great job," said Fordham coach Joe Conlin. "Everyone was very nice, it's a heck of a venue, so the atmosphere I don't think affected us in any way, shape or form." The Rams and their $500,000 appearance fee landed safely to New York.

Lafayette played better than expected in a 35-14 loss at Air Force. Trailing 28-7 at the half, the Leopards kept it respectable in the second half but had no ground game versus the Falcons, having been outrushed 375 to 43. In the PL's other game versus I-A opponents, Colgate was routed at Boston College, 52-0. The Red Raiders were outgained 525 to 189 in total offense and a 30-0 score after three quarters was padded by three late touchdowns by the Eagles, picked for third in the ACC Atlantic Division.

The PL's two games versus I-AA competition might be more troubling, however. Lehigh was stomped on by Villanova in the Engineers' home opener, 47-3. Lehigh gave up six turnovers and were outgained 506 to 139. Villanova transfer Dez Boykin, late of Lehigh, scored two touchdowns on the afternoon.

Bucknell was lifeless in a 21-0  loss to Sacred Heart. Two Bucknell quarterbacks combined for 55 yards on eight completions in 22 attempts. As the Sacred Heart announcers put it, there was a time when a win over Bucknell was a major upset for their program. Not anymore. The Bison have lost 11 consecutive non-conference games dating to the 2017 season. Next up, Villanova.

Scholarships have opened the door to guarantee games for six Patriot League schools . A 45 point loss before 85,938 fans in Lincoln, Nebraska may not fit the ethos and culture of Georgetown, but every other PL school is loading up on them in years to come. For now, they're losses. By season's end, they may be something more valuable: experience.

2021 Georgetown Football Preview

The operative word for Georgetown football 2021? Patience.

By the fourth of September, the Hoyas will not have played a game in 651 days, or 21 months and 12 days since a 24-0 loss at Holy Cross on November 23, 2019. Nearly half the roster (48 players) weren't even at Georgetown in 2019, much less playing on the team.

This is as much as building year as a rebuilding one. The return of 14 grad students has been invaluable to the cause, but they will join 22 seniors that won't be here in 2022, so with competing in 2021 there will be a close look at bringing up the next generation to the forefront.

 Each side of the ball has their own challenges in this regard, but the strength of the last two recruiting classes provides not only hope, but promise. With this in mind, the 2021 positional previews:

Quarterback

Georgetown enters 2021 with a record seven QB's on the depth chart, though it's likely no more than two may see significant time this season.

The return by fifth year senior Joseph Brunell makes him the favorite for the September 4 opener versus Marist. Brunell played in portions of eight games in 2019 behind Gunther Johnson, throwing for 607 yards, with a 146 yard effort at Columbia being a season high. He has the experience as it relates to Rob Spence's offense, but the tradeoff is that an established senior quarterback all season does not move up GU's  next generation of quarterbacks. Senior Lorenzo Linsey has passed for just 4 yards in two seasons and fellow senior Jack Elliott has not seen any action. Juniors Pierce Holley and Tyler Knoop have not seen significant action under center, while sophomore Connor Katz and freshman Dorian Nowell are new to college football entirely.

Nowell may well be the future at quarterback, as he is arguably the highest ranked prospect in the position for the Hoyas since Nick Cangelosi in 2004. But Georgetown has been hesitant to rush freshman QB's into battle, so Brunell seems the solid pick to start the season.  One thing to watch will be if Brunell can extend the field with more medium and long range passes, something that Georgetown's offensive line has not always been able to support. The Hoyas' passing game was fourth in the PL in 2019 but last in scoring, in part due to a -8 in turnover margin.

Ball control and ball protection should be two of the skills Brunell can bring to the Hoyas' offense this fall.

Running Back

The Rob Spence offense has long been based on passing, but in 2021 some of its better options may be in the backfield.

Georgetown has only four running backs on the 2021 roster but each is capable of getting things done. Junior Joshua Stakely and senior Herman Moultrie combined for 783 yards over nine games last season, though both fell victim to injuries towards the end of the season. Stakely is dangerous in the open field while Moultrie was more of a short-distance runner in 2019, with seven rushing touchdowns and no more than 15 yards on a  carry all season. Both can add to the offense from game one.

Fifth year senior Jackson Saffold, with seven starts over the prior two seasons, should provide depth as well. Freshman Naieem Kearney is the only newcomer on the depth chart, and his 15.8 yard per carry in high school is a tempting number, but that is tempered by how much a of a beating Georgetown's runners can take at the college level.

Georgetown may be using single back sets for much of the 2021 season but the versatility at quarterback may open options for a pistol formation, or even to have a second quarterback (Linsey) in the backfield. Traditionally, Georgetown's lack of depth on the offensive line has limited its running game, so the ability of the O-line to manage the line of scrimmage will determine how much Georgetown can rely on its backfield.

Offensive Line

So who's back across the line?

Well, some good news. Four of the starting five lineman from 2019 return in 2021 (T.J. Thomas, Neil Azar, Daniel Horne, and Theron Cooper) , with seniors Mac Hollensteiner and Josh Stevens as candidate to move up to the starting role at tackle. It also figures to be among the larger lines in recent years for the Hoyas, with four of the returning five at over 300 pounds.

Of the 17 candidates in the OL, four are juniors and eight are newcomers, so there are some interesting candidates in each. Juniors Sam Telesa and Talati Polamalu have the opportunity to step right into action, while the entire freshman and sophomore classes will be looking to establish themselves in the depth chart.

The Hoyas figure to stay with experience, given the defensive sets among other PL teams that had the spring season to see action. Had the 2021 seniors not returned, it would have been a far different outlook to get the line ready for the season. This is a good group and a deep one.

Tight End

Like the fullback before him, the changes in football formations are slowly but inexorably marginalizing the tight end. With the loss of Isaac Schley to a fifth year at Sam Houston State, GU brings five candidates to camp, led by grad student Zach Jewell, with two catches for nine yards in 2019.  Freshman Harrison Greenslade and sophomore Graham Hill may see more time on special teams in 2021 but figure to be competing with upperclassmen Chris Autino and Liam McHale for what has become a limited role as passing yards go. Autino, at 6-7, could be an option in short yardage passing situations.

Wide Receiver

The 2021 Hoyas will go as far as their receivers take them, with 12 candidates in camp vying for starting roles. One stands at the top: Joshua Tomas.

Tomas had an outstanding 2019 season, leading the team in receptions (53-709), punt returns (14-259) and kickoff returns (14-184). An option at back, Tomas has 246 yards and two touchdowns as a rusher but has been most impactful as a drop-off receiver that can gain yards after the catch. He was especially effective early in the season, but has the experience to help Georgetown in third and fourth yard conversions, where the Hoyas were just 36 percent effective on either down.

There are a lot of newcomers to consider at receiver but GU may be as comfortable staying with the veterans, at least early in the season: senior Cameron Crayton (32-331) and grad student Skyler Springs (9-87) are two good options. If these three stay healthy, they should see the majority of time unless one of the freshman absolutely takes over the minicamp.  More likely, its a preparatory year for them.

Defensive Line

Were this 2020, Georgetown's defensive depth would have been as formidable as any GU team in the last two decades. But in 2021, graduations have taken its toll and there is a lot of rebuilding ahead on the defensive line.

From a team which combined for 872 tackles last season, its four returning linemen combined for just 96 of them, with eight of the team's 28 overall sacks from 2019. Ibrahim Kamara ( 30 tackles, 4 sacks) is the only returning starter on the line, but finished just 12th in overall tackles at defensive end, seeing action in all 11 games last season. Veterans Quincy Chinwuko (37 tackles, 5 TFL), Kingsley Umemba (18 tackles, 2 sacks) and Isaiah Byrd (11 tackles) figure to move into starting roles early in the season, while juniors Tony Gyimah and Tyler Jones combined for just four tackles in limited play last season. With nine newcomers arriving without college experience, GU has to go with its veterans to anchor the line until the younger players step up.

Linebacker

A similar story is found at linebacker, with grad student Owen Kessler (41 tackles, 8 TFL) the only returning starter. Senior Justin Fonteneaux, who saw time behind Wes Bowers but finished third on the team in tackles (55), is a likely candidate to anchor the linebackers, along with seniors Palmer Nix and David Owens and junior Jonathan Saddler. This does figure to be a role where more underclassmen may be called into action later this season, with freshmen Jed Henry and Myles Jones as candidates to make the two-deep by season's end. The lack of experience may hurt GU with run-heavy teams, however.

Secondary

Twenty three different players arrived at Georgetown this August with the "DB" tag, nearly one in four players. With three returning starters, those positions appear solid, but there are still opportunities for competition.

Grad student Ahmad Wilson is the team's returning leader in the secondary, with 62 tackles, three TFL's, and one interception as a junior in 2019, second best among all players that season. Fellow safety Roemello Walton was fourth in 2019 with 49 tackles. The secondary will also be supported by grad student Jonathan Honore, whose 25 solo tackles in 2019 is second only to Walton among returnees.

The cornerback position formerly held by Cameron Deen will have some competition. Seniors Zaire Webb and Micah McNeil will be contributors this season as Georgetown may need to rely on veterans more than usual this season.

Special Teams

P/K Brad Hurst ended his Georgetown career third all-time in punts and punting yardage, leaving one senior and three newcomers to battle for the available role. Senior Davis Walker, who appeared in there games, is the best returning option. A combination of freshman Patrick Ryan, sophomore Conor Hunt, and sophomore Richard Abood may see time on kickoffs if Walker can lock down the place kicking option.

Joshua Tomas and Cameron Crayton are likely to be the team's go-to options for returns.

 The Schedule

 As the only Patriot League team not to have practiced or competed in 2020-21, Georgetown enters the 2021 season at a disadvantage. However, three of its first four games involved opponents who were similarly affected last season, so any issues of rust will be, at best, a non-factor.

That Georgetown is able to successfully compete against full scholarship PL schools is one part a credit to Georgetown and one part that the PL as a whole has been in comparative decline for the last six or seven years. The exception has been Holy Cross, which aims in 2021 to become the first PL team to win three consecutive titles outright in 30 years (1989 through 1991) when the Crusaders still had scholarship players on the rosters and the others didn't. The Hoyas' game at Worcester on Oct. 16 will be its toughest of the season, but GU should be sufficiently competitive with any of the other PL schools at this point.

Two games outside the PL/Ivy/Pioneer bubble should be of interest this season: one game early in the season (Delaware State) an one to end the season (Morgan State). Both are good opportunities  to see where the Hoyas are against intersectional competition, and where they are at the conclusion of 2021. There may be some bumps along the way but the Hoyas may be setting the foundation for a stronger program over the next two to four years as a result.

A Forgettable Spring

 I was going to title this article" Spring Football: What We Missed". I'm not sure we missed that much.

After numerous I-AA/FCS schools cancelled their fall 2020 schedules, a number of conferences decided to return for a one-off spring football season.  The Patriot League was one of 12 conferences that committed to a spring schedule, with the patricians at the Ivy league standing athwart. Bill Buckley would have been proud.

What followed was a complete salad bowl of mixed competition and a collection of games that varied wildly between conferences. Jacksonville State got 12 games in this season. New Hampshire got just one game in. The MEAC continued to take on water as only three schools opted for spring football and, as such, they did not have enough schools to get an autobid for the playoffs.

Six Patriot League schools signed up for spring football and it surprised no one that Georgetown passed. Given the state of local laws on COVID, it was entirely understandable; yet, the fall sports at GU caught the short straw on all of this. The Big East wanted its sports playing in the spring and, for the most part, Georgetown obliged; however, the Patriot League does not have that clout. 

The original PL press release noted that "if conditions allow and within permissible local and federal guidelines, the Hoyas will work to bring football student-athletes back for training in the spring in preparation for the traditional fall 2021 football season." That wasn't going to happen and it did not. The next Hoya practice will come 20 months and two recruiting classes since its last session, and will be, for all intents and purposes, a brand new team, and an inexperienced one at that. 

But in retrospect, the spring PL season was not one for the history books.

A four team, four game schedule was organized, but half the games were cancelled. No team played more than three games in the regular season, and Colgate got only two. A six team conference was sliced into thee team divisions, but the league could not even get a full intra-divisional slate completed.

The best of the bunch was defending 2019 champion Holy Cross. The Crusaders opened spring play with a convincing 20-3 win over a Lehigh team that raised more questions than answers this spring. The Engineers managed just 137 yards total offense for its home opener, with a veteran lineup. 

By contrast, HC went to the freshmen (2020 freshmen, that is) in a 34-24 home win over Fordham, with QB  Matthew Sluka establishing himself as an early name to watch this fall. Despite giving up 440 yards in the air, the HC defense held late and picked up its second win. 

Its next two games were cancelled, leaving the Crusaders' 2-0 record as the nominative "North Division" champion, having defeated Fordham with Colgate already out of the running. Holy Cross went on to play "South Division" champion Bucknell (2-0) for the PL autobid, with the suspense of the Bison in range for its first ever NCAA playoff bid--one of seven I-AA/FCS schools since the 1978 split not to have made the playoffs. In a season where longtime struggling programs like VMI and Davidson each earned a bid for the first time, Bucknell was no match for the Crusaders, 33-10.

Unfortunately for the Patriot League, it's flagging reputation took another step downward in the playoff pairings. In a  1-16 ranking of the teams selected, Holy Cross was seeded last, and sent to Brookings, SD for a first round matchup with South Dakota State. HC arrived with low expectations but played as well as they probably could have, and SDSU pulled away in the second half en route to a 31-3 win. And that's the season.

What was gained?

Holy Cross can claim a PL title--celebratory t-shirts and caps are now on sale. Bucknell did better than expected, as they were picked last at the outset. The others leave the spring with as many questions as they arrived with. Lehigh and Lafayette got a rivalry game in, which drew 2,600, the largest crowd of any PL game but still a fraction of usual expectations.

So outside of the reps, did Georgetown miss out on anything? Probably not. A two or three game schedule, with home games canceled outright by DC restrictions, would have done little for the 2021 Hoyas.  No one got hurt, and no one got sick. And other than the seniors, there will be another day. Georgetown still hasn't said which, if any of the 2020 seniors will be back this fall. Chances are better that their football days are behind them. Instead, Georgetown has to reboot a program that's likely to start 2021 where it was in 2001 when it joined the PL: at the back.

Spring football was an experiment, but it wasn't a success. Here's hoping that the fall brings back the players, the students, and the tradition of college football where it belongs.

A Schedule Of Questions

Air Force. Boston College. Connecticut. Villanova. Marist. All of these schools have something in common. And one really doesn't.

These are five of the announced season openers for Patriot League schools this fall. And, or course, Georgetown fans have no need to make plans to Colorado Springs, Boston, East Hartford, or the Main Line of Philadelphia. Because Georgetown doesn't aim like that. We get Marist. Because we'll always have Marist.

Marist is a relic from the MAAC days and also a reflection of Coach Sgarlata's long standing friendship with Marist coach Jim Parady, who marks his 30th season at the college this fall. The teams have played 22 times since 1994 but as we've commented before in these pages, frequency is not a rivalry. Few if any care at Marist to play Georgetown.  Even fewer care at Georgetown, and the expected opener at Cooper Field will be a school many GU students west of I-95 have probably never heard of.

Imagine the interest if that opening opponent was, say Villanova, or a little less so, Butler. Instead, Villanova opens at Lehigh and Butler is at Illinois State. 

Marist checks a box for the football office, who want, well, a good chance at a win, and the priority to play in the New York area at least once and sometimes twice a year. Three of the Hoyas' 11 opponents in 2021 are in the New York area, down from as many as six a quarter century ago. But this area once formed the majority of the team, too.  In 1996, a substantial 50 of the 90 members of the team were from New York or New Jersey. In 2019, New York and New Jersey accounted for just eight student athletes combined.

While the volume of recruiting has certainly diminished over the years, Marist remains on the schedule at the expense of more prominent opponents who are probably more likely to deal the Hoyas an early loss. And while it stands to reason that a team with one winning season in 20 years wants all the wins it can get, opening with an opponent that no one is terribly interested in seems a form of addition by subtraction.

Two Ivy League teams return to the schedule and even this isn't what it used to be. The arrival of Ivy teams dates to the Bob Benson playbook of the 1990's, where he sold Georgetown officials on Ivy teams as the perfect match for academic peers to play each other. However, it's been largely one-sided (8-39-1 all time, 1-15-1 versus Harvard, Yale or Princeton) and it's not even a draw for students in that Georgetown does not play Ivy schools regularly as other PL schools do. Counting the 2019 NIT game versus Harvard, Georgetown has played exactly two home basketball games against Ivy teams in the last 40 years.

The last two opponents are newcomers and a result of necessity; that is, Georgetown needed opponents and they really did. Delaware State and Morgan State are in the MEAC, which has been torn asunder by defections to other conferences. The formerly 11 team conference has lost five schools in the last five years, most recently three teams leaving in 2021. The conference canceled its spring schedule for lack of available schools, and those that remain suddenly have games to fill. 

So what is the ideal Georgetown schedule? Depends on who you ask. Some would argue for a schedule full of Ivy League teams. Some would prefer the old opponents of the 1970's. Most frankly don't care. And it doesn't have to be Air Force or Stanford, both are on the future schedules at Colgate. (Repeat: Colgate is playing Stanford in 2022.) Here are my thoughts:

1. Seek to schedule Butler and Villanova every season. More often than not, Butler is a win and Villanova is a loss, but the Big East designation would carry some interest.

2. Schedule one Ivy League game. The interest doesn't go beyond that.

3. Schedule regional opponents in rotation (Morgan State, Towson, Howard, Richmond, William & Mary, VMI).

4. For the fifth game, go big. Big. Get on the schedule at Connecticut.

"What? A Patriot League team can't stay on the field with that school!"

Except that Holy Cross can. And Lafayette is on the docket in five years. Every PL and Northeast Conference team in the East has at least one major college opponent on future schedules, including upstarts like LIU and Merrimack. Even Sacred Heart, who played the Hoyas a decade ago, has an FBS/I-A opponent.

After seven years in the AAC, the Big East Huskies are now an independent in football and need to fill 12 games every year. They've got some tougher teams awaiting their schedule in the next few years (Michigan, Syracuse, Maryland, North Carolina) but they need some more comfortable home games too--Yale is already on board for a game. If Lafayette can compete with UConn why can't Georgetown, or is that against the "ethos and culture"?

Yes, there are bowl game issues at major college opponents, which is why I didn't shout out for a game at Tulane or Rice that would be good recruiting trips. It's why, in no small part, Army and Navy will play other PL teams but not Georgetown. The Hoyas don't have to sign up for  "body bag" games the way Howard does, but schedules are more than filling a slate. they send a message about where the program is headed. Thankfully, Georgetown doesn't have to sell the promise of a new home stadium to recruits anymore, but how about an opponent that people would be interested in, say 2025, when this year's recruiting class will be seniors?

Villanova at Georgetown at Audi Field would be a great start. An occasional game with UConn, even more so. Stanford isn't happening, but oh, what a weekend. 

It's a new decade, and time to take a fresh look at the opponents on the schedule. It's not 2004 anymore.

Starting Over

What's that saying about a tree falling in the forest, but makes no sound? Such was the case with the Patriot League's indifferent announcement of spring football.

The PL was the last conference in America to decide on the spring, Heck, even the Pioneer League had a plan before the Patriot did. In the end, outside the Allentown Morning Call, it received no coverage outside the league offices and the six schools affected.

Six. Not seven.

To no surprise to anyone familiar with Washington, DC in this annus horribilis, there will be no spring football at Georgetown. The school is effectively shut down, even to the 500 of so seniors who will wander its grounds without a senior class auction, a senior week, a senior ball, and perhaps, a second year without a senior commencement. Athletics, save the grind of the men's basketball season, is a non-starter as well. There was no good reason to bring in 100 more kids to campus, meet DC regulations, and put people at risk to play a four game season before five or six people in a socially distanced press box.

The causes for the PL's late release aren't well known. Surely, they knew of Georgetown's situation. Maybe they were hoping for a change of heart. The release notes that " If conditions allow and within permissible local and federal guidelines, the Hoyas will work to bring football student-athletes back for training in the spring in preparation for the traditional fall 2021 football season." That's not happening, either.

But even in this period of interruption, there is effect, and that's worth discussing. This is a different team, a different program, that will take the field this September, and we ought to prepare for that.

In different, safer times, the 2020 Georgetown Hoyas would have been a fun team to watch.  Georgetown would return seven starters on offense and ten on defense, with the kind of depth it has lacked for much of the past 20 seasons. A winning season was within reach. And that's all gone.

Gone too,  is the seniors of 2020, the graduating class of 2021. The 20 man senior class will be succeeded by 20 signings announced in last month's signing period. While no eligibility was lost this season, the names Hoya fans know (Khristian Tate, Duval Paul, Xavier Reddick, Owen Kessler, etc.) are taking the next steps forward in their life. Some are graduating early, some are pursuing grad transfers, some are just going to get a job. If someone comes back as a fifth year senior, great, but of those 10 returning starters that played in the Holy Cross game on Nov. 23, 2019, as few as one - junior Ibrahim Kamara - will be on the team in the fall of 2021.

Barring a fifth year, we've seen the last of Joe Brunell, expected to lead the team at quarterback. Receivers Max Edwards and Skyler Springs, and running back Jackson Saffold are all scheduled to graduate before the fall season kickoff. The interim 2020 roster noted the apparent departure of the two top freshman 2019 quarterbacks, Tyler Knoop and Martin Butcher, as well as a pair of linemen. Of the 93 players on the roster at the 2019 finale, just 45 will be there this fall. Of the 45, just 29 played more two games all season.

On the flip side, that means that half the team enters this fall with no college experience whatsoever; namely, the 28 freshmen from 2020 (more or less) and the 20 from the December 2020 signings , plus any additions next month in the former recruiting signing period. The last two recruiting classes have been promising but the jump up in competition is no small challenge to any player at any level.

And, again, through no fault of GU, it's possible that these players do not come together in one place until as late as August, marking the first practices for some since the fourth week of November 2019 (some 20 months ago by then) or for others, the first since their high school games ended. That's a huge effort by the staff to train and retrain an entire team to get up to speed, figuratively and literally. And don't forget, six other PL teams and as many as four other non-conference opponents (some of whom didn't go virtual this past fall), will have a month of winter training camp and as many as five games of experience this spring before returning in the fall.

Just 17 of 240 schools in Division I are not playing in 2020-21, either in the fall or spring. They are as follows: Connecticut, New Mexico State and Old Dominion in I-A/FBS, and Bethune Cookman, Georgetown, Hampton, Sacramento State, Towson, St. Francis, and the entire Ivy League in I-AA/FCS.

This team starts over in the fall in a big way, and not necessarily in a winning season. You can't teach gameday experience on Zoom. But there's another restart to consider.

The fall of 2021, God willing, returns the residential campus to Georgetown. To two classes, fully half the student body, it's a completely new ballgame. Three thousand students  enter without the preprogrammed student pessimism that football at Georgetown isn't worth the time, three thousand kids that never knew a Saturday afternoon on the utterly hapless temporary stands of Multi-Sport/Cooper Field and all that it represented. They'll return to a completed Cooper Field and, perhaps, a new outlook on this program, and decide whether it is something they'll support, or shrug off and ask when basketball season starts.

As the old television commercial says, "you never get a second chance to make a first impression." The opportunity, and perhaps the imperative, is for Georgetown to make the September 4 season opener at Cooper Field against opponents TBA (probably Marist) a one in a decade chance at elevating a football game to a campus event.

It is now over 20 years ago that former coach Bob Benson made the case for what a football game could be like at Georgetown, but one which the temporary facilities never did.

"Build a new facility with all the tradition of the past in mind," he wrote. "Place it in the center of campus. Create a new school spirit among our students, faculty, and the community, and bring an environment with a wonderful aura of history and tradition to the Georgetown campus... bring back an atmosphere that perhaps only the game of football can bring to a college campus."

That's not going to take place by treating that opener this as just another game. A poster in front of the bookstore and an article in the HOYA won't cut it. Over the next few months, this blog will outline a series of  strategies not just to renew football at Georgetown in the fall of 2021, but reboot the fan experience. Twenty years of apathy doesn't have to be the watchword for football going forward.

Ina  time of darkness and distance, better days are ahead. Let's prepare for something better, emphasis on prepare, literally, to "make ready". Rob Sgarlata's team will certainly be ready, and with a little effort, so will we.